Victim of ‘Pix kidnapping’ reports prison for 8 hours in the woods: ‘R$ 160 thousand in looting and loans’

by

At gunpoint, sitting in the woods, without eating or going to the bathroom for eight hours. A month ago, two architects were victims of an ambush and held hostage by a “Pix gang” in São Paulo.

The robbers moved at least R$ 160,000 during the kidnapping between looting, loans and purchases. The amount was later returned by the banks.

The crime began when two men pretended to be clients and arranged a meeting with the architects in Jaraguá, in the North Zone of São Paulo.

At the scene, the armed bandits surrendered Anna Novaes, 52, and a friend who works with her.

“They threw us into the back seat of my car and took us to a reservation. One of the criminals accompanied us into the woods. They threatened us all the time”, says Anna in an interview with BBC News Brasil.

Sought, the Public Security Secretariat reported that the case is being investigated by the 46th Police District of Perus. The folder did not say whether any suspects were arrested.

The case gained repercussion after the architect made a report on Twitter, which had more than 2 million views and more than 50 thousand likes.

Anna stated that the criminals arranged a meeting to talk about an alleged project. Before meeting in person, they talked on the phone and through the WhatsApp messaging app.

From the moment they were approached, around 10 am on June 7, the two had their apps and personal information thoroughly investigated by the crooks.

“They asked for all the passwords. They were very skilled with cell phones. I had an iPhone and my friend had an Android, and they knew how to handle everything”, says the architect.

“The first thing they did was turn off the location and route the phones on the internet from another device so that it wouldn’t be found. They accessed the banking apps and withdrew all the money they could through transfers via Pix.”

At first, the criminals wore ordinary surgical masks, the victim said. But then they were “clean face”.

Anna estimates that at least four people were part of the gang. The first two who approached her, a third with whom they spoke frequently and a last one, who arrived at the end and was called a “minor” by the criminals.

According to Anna, while she and her friend were kidnapped, the thieves spent R$15,000 on purchases on her credit cards. They also withdrew BRL 10,000 from their Santander bank account and took out a loan of BRL 5,000 – this money was transferred to other accounts by Pix.

Sought by BBC News Brasil, Santander said it “resolved the case with the client”. Anna claims that the bank returned all the stolen money.

At Itaú, the bandits made a loan of R$130,000 in Anna’s name, but were only able to withdraw R$20,000 because the bank itself made an automatic block.

Anna said that the bank had already returned R$14,000 and refunded the remaining R$6,000 after being contacted by BBC News Brasil. Before that, according to her, Itaú claimed that she had not taken out insurance for transactions with Pix.

Itaú confirmed that it had returned the money and, in a note, “reinforces that, when being the victim of any accident, the customer, as soon as possible, must contact the bank to temporarily block passwords, products or services and file a report of so that the competent authorities can take the necessary measures”.

Anna’s friend also had her accounts hacked, but the stolen values ​​were not reported to the report.

During the time they were at gunpoint by the criminals, says the architect, they stopped participating in several meetings. But nobody could call them, because the phones were in airplane mode.

Anna says the kidnappers were keen to show they were armed.

“If they asked me for a password and I said I didn’t remember, they would hit me in the head, not to hurt, but to intimidate,” Anna said. “In the middle of the afternoon, they showed up with a bakery bag with soda and bread. They offered it to us, but we declined.”

crime wave

Anna said that the police identified that the robbers made three purchases in Brasilândia, a neighborhood also in the North Zone of São Paulo. The delegate, according to her, suspects that the gang that committed the kidnapping was specialized in car theft and has now migrated to this type of crime, which is becoming increasingly frequent.

The head delegate of the 3rd Anti-Kidnapping Precinct, of the Civil Police, Tarcio Severo, told BBC News Brasil, in 2021, that the number of lightning kidnappings, a crime considered dormant, skyrocketed after the implementation of Pix in Brazil.

According to him, there are even gangs specializing in other crimes that are “migrating” to robberies involving this type of transaction.

Under the kidnappers’ power, Anna claims to have kept her cool. According to her, the criminals had been telling them all along that if they remained calm and provided the necessary information, they would be released without any harm.

“We didn’t cry or get decompensated. If we had been crying, it would have been worse. We were tense, without scandal. They said they didn’t want to hurt us. They just wanted the money. But as it took time, we couldn’t believe that everything would end well , because they were very drugged. Being in the crosshairs of someone altered made us tense”, he says.

She says the robbers said they would take them back to the car and leave them in a “broken down”. And then they could leave.

“I didn’t even know what I felt anymore. Whether hearing that was good or bad,” says Anna.

hit menu

Just before being released, the two friends were watched only by the assailant called “the minor”. Anna says he asked how they were kidnapped because they have “a menu of scams”.

The conversation between the victims and the criminal would have even stretched, between laughter, according to Anna. But she says that, at one point, his cell phone rang, and he got nervous and started shaking.

“He told us to be quiet, otherwise we would die, and he disappeared. After 15 minutes, we realized that he had abandoned us, sitting at the root of a huge tree. We then walked a little to the place. where we thought we had come from. But we saw a road and a black car stopping, so I told them to go back and sit down so as not to cause any confusion”, says Anna.

But the friends ended up getting lost. After walking in another direction, they found three men standing, looking in their direction.

“A gentleman said: ‘You can go out’. I looked to the side, and there was a police car. You live in the region, saw the criminals, suspected the movement and called the police. As they had scouts, the boy who was with us was warned, and no one was arrested”, says Anna.

The criminals took the victims’ cell phones and two pairs of gold earrings. They returned the bags with everything inside, including the documents. Anna has insurance that covers everything in her purse and got her cell phone back. Her car was found two days later with no damage.

After the crime, Anna reports that she had difficulty sleeping and even had nightmares.

“The first night, I didn’t sleep. I got home at 10 pm very tired, but when I went to bed, at 1 am, I woke up thinking that the thief was in my room pointing a gun at me and I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t have a panic attack, but I’m surviving,” he says.

Anna says she would like her story to serve as an example for others. “We need to be more attentive and distrust people more.”

This text was originally published here.

You May Also Like

Recommended for you